Complete Thursday Game Plan

Markets slumped in the final two hours of trade, to end at session lows. Volume was slightly elevated as the S&P 500 fell 1.4%, while the Nasdaq lost 1.1%. Going into Friday however the Nasdaq is up .6% for the week, and the S&P 500 marginally higher. With the big declines, you would have thought more leaders would have been hurt. But the harm was kept at bay for now at least. Helicopter Ben pronounced the economy was getting better, albeit at a gingerly pace. Bond purchases would resume as they have been, and the silver lining may be that the economy is grinding along, but the pace of today’s descent, may have investors thinking otherwise. They are more concerned that the punch bowl, was the main ingredient to the markets cheeriness the last couple years, and that the economy may not be able to stand on its own two feet, without the aid of the Fed. Perhaps today was just a one off event, an excuse that the market needs a longer breather than it has been given. Looking at the S&P 500 daily chart, its making a bad habit of repeatedly testing its 50 day SMA. Relative to the Nasdaq, it is almost a full percentage point off its most recent 52 week high.